Ukrainian Republic of the Far East
"Semeynov was a Transbaikalian Cossack – dark and thickset, and of the rather alert Mongolian type. His intelligence was of a specifically Cossack calibre, and he was an exemplary soldier, especially courageous when under the eye of his superior. He knew how to make himself popular with Cossacks and officers alike, but he had his weaknesses in a love of intrigue and indifference to the means by which he achieved his ends. Though capable and ingenious, he had received no education, and his outlook was narrow. I have never been able to understand how he came to play a leading role." - Pyotr Wrangel describing Semeynov The Ukrainian Republic of the Far East commonly referred to as Green Ukraine or White Alaska is located on the northwestern tip of the North American continent. The Ukrainian Republic of the Far East borders Quebec to its east, Mexico to its south, and has a maritime border with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to its west. History Formerly known as Russian America was the Russian colonial possessions in North America from 1733 to 1920. Its capital was Novo-Archangelsk (New Archangel). Settlements spanned parts of what are now the U.S. states of California, Alaska and two ports in Hawaii. Formal incorporation of the possessions by Russia did not take place until the Ukase of 1799 which established a monopoly for the Russian–American Company and also granted the Russian Orthodox Church certain rights in the new possessions. From 1743 small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of the Russian Pacific coast to the Aleutian islands. As the runs from Asiatic Russia to America became longer expeditions (lasting two to four years or more), the crews established hunting and trading posts. By the late 1790s some of these had become permanent settlements. Approximately half of the fur traders were from the various European parts of the Russian Empire, while the others were Siberian or of mixed origins. Rather than hunting the marine life, the Russians forced the Aleuts to do the work for them. As word spread of the riches in furs to be had, competition among Russian companies increased and the Aleuts were enslaved. Catherine the Great, who became Empress in 1763, proclaimed goodwill toward the Aleuts and urged her subjects to treat them fairly. On some islands and parts of the Alaska Peninsula, groups of traders had been capable of relatively peaceful coexistence with the local inhabitants. Other groups could not manage the tensions and committed acts of violence. Hostages were taken, families were split up, and individuals were forced to leave their villages and settle elsewhere. The growing competition between the trading companies, merging into fewer, larger and more powerful corporations, created conflicts that aggravated the relations with the indigenous populations. Over the years, the situation became catastrophic. As the animal populations declined, the Aleuts, already too dependent on the new barter economy created by the Russian fur-trade, were increasingly coerced into taking greater and greater risks in the highly dangerous waters of the North Pacific to hunt for more otter. As the Shelekhov-Golikov Company developed a monopoly, it used skirmishes and violent incidents turned into systematic violence as a tool of colonial exploitation of the indigenous people. When the Aleuts revolted and won some victories, the Russians retaliated, killing many and destroying their boats and hunting gear, leaving them no means of survival. The most devastating effects were from disease: during the first two generations (1741/1759-1781/1799 AD) of Russian contact, 80 percent of the Aleut population died from Eurasian infectious diseases; these were by then endemic among the Europeans, but the Aleut had no immunity against the new diseases. Though the Alaskan colony was never very profitable because of the costs of transportation, most Russian traders were determined to keep the land for themselves. In 1784 Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov, who would later set up the Russian-Alaska Company that became the Alaskan colonial administration, arrived in Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island with two ships, the Three Saints and the St. Simon. The Koniag Alaska Natives harassed the Russian party and Shelekhov responded by killing hundreds and taking hostages to enforce the obedience of the rest. Having established his authority on Kodiak Island, Shelekhov founded the second permanent Russian settlement in Alaska (after Unalaska, permanently settled from 1774) on the island's Three Saints Bay. In 1790, Shelekhov, back in Russia, hired Alexander Andreyevich Baranov to manage his Alaskan fur enterprise. Baranov moved the colony to the northeast end of Kodiak Island, where timber was available. The site later developed as what is now the city of Kodiak. Russian colonists took Koniag wives and started families whose surnames continue today, such as Panamaroff, Petrikoff, and Kvasnikoff. In 1795, Baranov, concerned by the sight of non-Russian Europeans trading with the Natives in southeast Alaska, established Mikhailovsk six miles (10 km) north of present-day Sitka. He bought the land from the Tlingit, but in 1802, while Baranov was away, Tlingit from a neighboring settlement attacked and destroyed Mikhailovsk. Baranov returned with a Russian warship and razed the Tlingit village. He built the settlement of New Archangel on the ruins of Mikhailovsk. It became the capital of Russian America. As Baranov secured the Russians' settlements in Alaska, the Shelekhov family continued to work among the top leaders to win a monopoly on Alaska's fur trade. In 1799 Shelekhov's son-in-law, Nikolay Petrovich Rezanov, had acquired a monopoly on the American fur trade from Tsar Paul I. Rezanov formed the Russian-American Company. As part of the deal, the Tsar expected the company to establish new settlements in Alaska and to carry out an expanded colonisation programme. As the 1800's rolled around with the absence of the British Empire Russian fur traders suddenly became competitive with French fur traders from Quebec and Louisiana. During the 1800s with Russian suppression of the Ukrainian language and people many intellectuals and common folk were offered free passage of Russian America. Thousands of Ukrainians took the chance to escape Russian oppression and by the mid 1800s there were thousands of Ukrainians dotting the coasts of Russian America. The first real turn towards liberal reforms came when in 1866, following an assassination attempt on his life in Warsaw in 1862 and a general revolt in Poland in 1864, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia was made Viceroy of Russian America. He introduced sweeping liberal reforms which included the disbanding of many monopolies, protection for the native Aleuts and other indigenous peoples, and other "radical" policies. Konstantin sympathized with the natives and, ignoring the advice of his brother's generals, he ended martial law and embarked on a program of liberalization. Universities were opened and Konstantin appointed educated indigenous people to administrative positions, gathering a distinguished court of indigenous people and Russians around him. The Russo-French Treaty of 1824 recognized exclusive Russian rights to the fur trade above Latitude 54°, 40' North, with the French rights and claims restricted to below that line. With French fur traders dominant in Quebec and Louisiana the Russian fur trade continued to suffer. However, it was still prominent and wouldn't completely collapse as it did in our own timeline. Unfortunately, Nikolayevich was unable to implement all of his policies as he was killed in 1873. As a result of this his wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, became Viceroy of American Russia and reversed many of her late husbands reforms. Instead, she instituted an ultra-conservative policy which closed down many facilities once available to the Ukrainians and natives to Russian only. However, the final straw was when she banned the Ukrainian and native languages which prompted a widespread revolt. A multi-year revolt led by Ukrainian intellectual Mykola Vasylovych Hohol which resulted in the collapse of the Russian colonial authority by 1875. Supported by the Spanish and British Mykola successfully held onto Alaska, Russia deeming it too invaluable to launch a long term expedition. Russian America soon became known as Green Ukraine or the Ukraine in the Far East. Soon, the facilities which were once exclusive to Russians were now exclusive to Ukrainians. However, the Ukrainians weren't as harsh as Grand Duchess Iosifovna and allowed the natives to join their universities and continue their language but they faced widespread discrimination and disenfranchisement. Hohol lived as dictator for life in the newly dubbed "Green Ukraine" or "Ukrainian Republic in the Far East". The city of Novo-Archanglesk was renamed to the Sitka and remained the capital of Green Ukraine. Following the retirement of Hohol he was replaced by the young Mikhail Petrovich Semyonov who was appointed by Hohol during his waning years. He made an effort to modernize his armed forces and expand foreign relations, reaching out to Japan and Mexico. By the turn of the 19th century his reforms were too slow for satisfaction and the people were unhappy with his financial mismanagement. This led to a Japanese-backed coup against him by his son, Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov. With Grigory now in power in Green Ukraine he assured the nations alignment with Japan was concrete and certain. He delivered component reforms with Japanese officers and education he formed a small, yet component armed forces to ensure national security. In his rule over the country, he has been described as a "plain bandit who drew his income from holding up trains and forcing payments, no matter what the nature of the load nor for whose benefit it was being shipped." This has guaranteed to the turn of Green Ukraine into a military junta. Despite the mismanagement and ruthlessness under Semyonov life in general did not change. In fact, his persection of political opponents only inspired those who did not wish to flee the country to simply go into the interior of Alaska to continue their traditions, out from the preying eye of the government. The first test of his regime came in 1905, the Russo-Japanese War has been underway. Being within the Japanese sphere of influence he decided to pull a false flag, having Japanese warships raid small otter hunting ships and slaughtering the crews only to have it blamed on Russia. This led to Green Ukraine, while not officially declaring war, to raiding Russian shipping in the Bering Strait with Japanese assistance, his fleet successfully scoring multiple Russian merchant ships. Starting in the 1890s and stretching in some places to the early 1910s, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon Territory brought thousands of Ukrainian settlers to Alaska. European immigrants from Norway and Sweden also settled in southeast Alaska, where they entered the fishing and logging industries. His second test came in 1917, the Russian Revolution. Throughout the Russian Empire a Bolshevik Uprising was in place. Semyonov originally didn't align himself to any faction until he joined the Entente, hoping to guarantee the safety of his state, by assisting in the evacuation of the Czechoslovak Legion. Green Ukraine forces joined the expeditionary force to Russia, meeting the Czechoslovaks and assisting in their evacuation. Many Czech soldiers chose to stay in Alaska instead of opting to go west or remain in Russia, a significant Czech minority existing in Sitka to this day. These Czech legionaries who chose to remain in Green Ukraine assisted the formation of an elite army tradition independent from the Japanese. Green Ukraine was known for being an area which used Japanese equipment, with Czech officers, and Ukrainian soldiers in the northeastern most part of North America. The Clutch Plague caused prices of fish and copper, which were vital to Alaska's economy at the time, to decline. Wages were dropped and the workforce decreased by more than half. A theory currently proposed is that settlers from agricultural areas could be transferred to Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley for a fresh chance at agricultural self-sustainment. Colonists were largely from Ukraine, Scandinavia, Siberia, or indigenous under the belief that only those who grew up with climates similar to that of Alaska's could handle settler life there. By 1930 the process of resettling people to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley is still underway. Politics Green Ukraine is an authoritarian dictatorship which is heavily centralized under Semeynov and his deputies. Society in Green Ukraine is dominated by Ukrainian and Czech citizens while indigenous and Scandinavian citizenry are considered lower class and subjected to worse facilities then the rest of the country. In order to escape the harsh treatment under Semeynov many have fled into the interior of modern day Alaska, away from the preying eye of the federal government. However, many consider Semeynov to be a mere Japanese puppet and many Czechs express a hidden wish to overthrow him in favor of a new dictator. Simultaneously many have expressed a wish to either join the Soviet Union or form their own communist state. Military Army The army of Green Ukraine is a rather unofficial frontier-style paramilitary force which enforces the will of Semeynov and his deputies. The army is a small, unimportant sector of the military which is mostly small units on horseback taking expeditions into the interior of Alaska, patrolling the border, or harassing the opponents of Semeynov. The army is almost exclusively Ukrainian or Czech with small native auxiliary elements who are hired as mercenaries with the occasional Japanese advisory in the command staff. Navy The navy, like the army, is underfunded and poorly maintained usually a select few civilian ships who have a crew with a few rifles and if they're lucky ship guns who were hired by Semeynov to act as pirates or to transport soldiers to Russia. Overall, they maintain a small federal fleet which is the merchant fleet or used to transport diplomats or other government officials to other locations. Air Force Green Ukraine maintains no combat air craft, rather only having a select few outdated planes for reconnaissance or to transport people and material through the country. Foreign Relations Green Ukraine maintains several embassies inside of its capital of Sitka which it conducts diplomatic missions from. Green Ukraine has friendly relations with Japan, Czechoslovakia, Louisiana, and Mexico. Green Ukraine relies on Japan for military and political assistance and is considered in the Japanese sphere of influence. Green Ukraine is in a tense relationship with the Soviet Union and has conducting several skirmishes in the Bering Strait with them in the past. Sitka is also the headquarters of many resistance organizations inside of the Soviet Union which occupies Ukraine. Additionally, they have had fought several skirmishes with Mexico as they both claim the Oregon Country as their territory. The modern day Seattle area is de facto controlled by Green Ukraine while the rest is controlled by Mexico. Green Ukraine also recognizes the Japanese proxies inside of Manchuria. Culture Green Ukraine prides itself on being the "eastern provinces of Ukraine". As a result of this cultural pride the state attracts many Ukrainian intellectuals as being a safe haven away from the Soviet Union. The upper class of society in this country consists of Ukrainian, Czech, and Japanese intellectuals who control the vast majority of political and business seats. The lower class consists of indigenous peoples, Scandinavians, Tatars, uneducated Ukrainians (have higher social standing), and Russians. The lower class of society faces a plethora of difficulties and social mobility is extremely difficult but the harsh landscape and general frontier society means that the lower class has much greater autonomy then in other nations. All aspects of art, culinary, and poetry are a fine combination of Scandinavian, Japanese, and Slavic works which has created a unique style of the latter known as American Style. Economy The economy of Green Ukraine is dominated by fishing, whaling, crabbing, logging, hunting, and a little bit of agriculture. Green Ukraine is popularized as the "last frontier" and encourages foreigners to travel to Ukraine and explore the wilderness, a practice which results in the deaths of many adventurers and some call for greater regulation to prevent this in the future. The agricultural industry has taken a hit in the recent years due to the Clutch Trade and skirmishes with the Soviet Union in the Bering Strait has hurt all maritime industries so Green Ukraine is on an economic backfoot which creatures unrest among those who rely on that job for their way of life.